ESPN began as an outrageous gamble with a lineup that included Australian Rules Football, rodeo, and a rinky-dinky clip show called Sports Center. Today the empire stretches far beyond television into radio, magazines, mobile phones,the internet, video games and more, while ESPN's personalities have become global superstars to rival the sports icons they cover. Chris Berman, Robin Roberts, Keith Olbermann, Hannah Storm, Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Stuart Scott, Erin Andrews, Mike Ditka, Bob Knight, and scores of others speak openly about the games, shows, scandals, gambling addictions, bitter rivalries, and sudden suspensions that make up the network's soaring and stormy history. The result is a wild, smart, effervescent story of triumph, genius, ego, and the rise of an empire unlike any television had ever seen.

About the Author

James Andrew Miller is the author of Running in Place: Inside the Senate and Live from New York. He has also written for the New York Times, Life, the Washington Post and Newsweek. His various positions in television include Senior Executive Producer of "Anderson Cooper 360" and Executive VP of Original Programming at USA Network

Prizes

A behind-the-scenes chronicle of the rise of ESPN by the authors of the New York Times bestseller Live From New York.

Reviews

""Those Guys Have All the Fun" delivers a hell of a narrative...[and] an outstanding work of journalism. Easing interviewees into such comfort that they said what they did on record is an enormous achievement for Miller and Shales."-- Fortune "Daniel Roberts "

Miller and Shales's (Live from New York) second book wisely uses an oral history format to tell the inside story of multimedia sports broadcasting giant ESPN. They crafted their long but engaging narrative by interviewing over 550 current and former ESPN broadcasters, executives, and off-air staff who add their own unique insights into the network's 30-year history and illuminate the many behind-the-scenes personality and ego clashes. A few athletes and broadcasting competitors chime in as well. Tony Korn-heiser, Chris Berman, Dick Vitale, Jim Rome, Keith Olbermann, and others are candid in both their complaints and compliments. Matt McCarthy, Joan Baker, and coauthor Miller swap unremarkable narration duties. Recommended for anyone who takes sports media seriously. [The Little, Brown hc, published in May, was a New York Times best seller; the Back Bay pb will publish in December.-Ed.]-Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.